The Coyotes improve to 12-6 in the KCAC and share second place with Oklahoma Wesleyan and Friends, two games behind Southwestern (14-4), which fell to OKWU for its third consecutive loss. KWU hasn't won five games in a row since the 2008-09 season.

The Coyotes led 31-19 at halftime and were up 58-42 with 7 minutes left, but couldn’t sustain it.

Sterling (7-18, 5-13) scored nine unanswered points and got within eight twice the final 2 ½ minutes before the final seven-point advantage. The Warriors scored 47 points the second half.

“I thought we acted like we were playing a team that wasn’t very good,” Monson said of the Coyotes, who were coming off a 75-73 upset victory over No. 6 Southwestern on Wednesday in Winfield. “I don’t think we were really focused the whole night. We turned on the switch when needed to and you just can’t do that, especially this time of year. That’s a bad habit to get into.”

Sterling got within 68-60 with 52 seconds left, but Rashun Allen made 3 of 4 free throws and Gandy made two that made it 73-61 with 30.6 seconds left. Sterling scored the game’s final five points.

Wesleyan was 25 of 52 from the field (48 percent), including 14 of 26 the second half (54 percent), but finished with 16 turnovers and was outscored 15-6 on second chance points.

“I’ll take a win any way I can get it, that’s not what I’m saying,” Monson said. “We did some good things, don’t get me wrong. But there’s no way we’d have played that way against Southwestern.

“It’s a good learning lesson that you can’t just do the bare minimum and squeak by. It’s a lesson that hasn’t been taught here in a very long time because they’ve never been in the position they’re in now. You have to learn how to handle success.”

Gandy was 8 of 14 shooting and also had seven rebounds. Darius Hammond had 13 points and five rebounds off the bench while Cross was 5 for 5 shooting and also snagged five rebounds in addition to the seven blocks.

The Coyotes couldn’t contain Sterling’s JaMiah Windom-Haynes, a freshman forward who finished with 31 points and 6 rebounds. He was 10 of 20 from the field and 11 of 15 at the line.

“We gave up 31 to one guy and that’s not a great effort,” Monson said. “We held them to 66 and that’s good, but we went through the motions tonight and it just wasn’t a very good effort.”

The Coyotes were without injured starting point guard Jamon Fulton for the second game in a row.

Next up is a crucial contest against Friends on Wednesday at Mabee Arena. The Falcons feature Jordan Murdock, the leading scorer in NAIA Division II. Friends defeated York on Saturday in Wichita.

KWU women 67, Sterling 63

Courtney Heinen had a simple explanation for Wesleyan’s ability to finally get some shots to fall.

“In practices we’ve been working on shooting, so that could be it,” she said.

Plagued by poor shooting in their last five games (30 percent), the Coyotes shot a sizzling 46.7 percent the first half and led 31-19 at intermission. They couldn’t maintain the pace the second half, shooting 31 percent (9 of 29), but made 7 of 8 free throws the final 34 seconds.

The victory, coupled with Southwestern’s loss to Oklahoma Wesleyan earlier in the day, clinches a berth in the KCAC postseason tournament for KWU, which improved to 11-7 in conference play and 14-12 overall.

“It takes some pressure off,” Coyote coach Ryan Showman said. “We’ve still got some work to do and got some things to play for – a (first round) home game, maybe the No. 2 seed – and we’re going to reach for those goals knowing we’re in.

Wesleyan’s now tied for third in the KCAC with Bethany, Saint Mary and Sterling.

Heinen finished with a team-high 19 points, 10 in the fourth quarter, as KWU fended off repeated Sterling rallies. The Warriors were playing without injured redshirt freshman Kylah Comley, the conference's leading scorer, for the second straight game.

Her basket with 3:20 left in the game ended a 6-0 Sterling run and made it 57-52 KWU. After two Sterling free throws, she hit a 3-pointer for a 60-54 lead with 2:06 left.

Sterling got within 60-58 with 1:03 remaining, but Wesleyan closed it out at the foul line.

The Coyotes shot 39 percent for the game (23 of 59), including 8 of 23 beyond the 3-point arc.

“Things are a little easier when you make some shots,” Showman said with a laugh. “We played really well the first half and I thought that was really the difference. They came back and I thought they played better than us the second, but we made enough plays down the stretch to hang on.”

Heinen wasn’t happy with her shooting the last few games, but was 7 of 13 from the field Saturday.

“The last couple of games I’ve been scoring, but a lot of my shots haven’t been falling,” she said. “I’ve been working on that.”

Gabbie Miller scored 12, Haleigh Bradford 11 and Mariah Knox 10 for Wesleyan. Miller also had eight rebounds along with Virja Lewis as the Coyotes had a 43-33 rebounding edge.

Kilee Harris had 19 points, 15 the second half, and seven rebounds for Sterling (14-11, 11-7).

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